President Dobelle opened by saying it was "nice to be
home." He said he hoped that he had represented us well on
the trip to Japan and noted that traveling with a group like
the Governors' (Cayetano, Waihe'e, Ariyoshi) group provided
a special kind of access to community leaders in politics,
banking and travel. He mentioned his intention to do more
representing that night, at the Kennedy Theater production
of Much Ado About Nothing. He said that his administration
was still morphing and that he hoped to attain what he
called a "flat bureaucracy". He mentioned the notion that
he was still engaged in what might prove to have been
structural reaction to what was really a personnel problem,
but that he hoped to be reactive to real needs. He noted
that he was working regularly with the Faculty Senate which
he presumed represents the faculty. He said that Manoa is
"an extraordinary institution", one of the great Carnegie I
institutions. Then he noted the UH System.

That brought him to talk of the future, and he said that
no matter what happened with buildings in the future,
buildings were not a key indicator of a great faculty. He
pointed to new negotiations and focused attention on faculty
salaries. He stated that it was his goal to raise faculty
salaries from the present twentieth percentile to the
fiftieth-to-eightieth percentile in the next four-to-seven
years. After applause, he said that he aimed as well to pay
a living wage to support staff (and was applauded
again).

Then he mentioned the PriceWaterhouse audit, to be concluded
in December. He said a major goal of his administration was
to reduce non-instructional costs. He said we have to build
coalition, so that UH will not be permitted to be perceived
as just another interest group. He mentioned a need and a
goal being to add more faculty, and not to just be dealing
with adjunct faculty. He posed himself the challenge that
how many new faculty were added would be taken as a test of
his administration.

Then he talked about potentially $300 million from the
state. He talked about CIP (capital improvements),
mentioning 150 million for the health and wellness complex.
He explained that the selection of the Kaka'ako site came in
part from work of the Department of Urban and Regional
Planning. He talked about further monetary matters,
including $27 million in deferred maintenance. There is
also an appeal for $70 million to extend the Kennedy Theater
complex for a film school, and for information technology,
but because of recent events, President Dobelle said that
request may have to be deferred.

Foundations were the next topic. We do not have, said
President Dobelle, a good set of priorities. He said he had
never found anywhere else a situation like that he has found
here, 106 separate foundations at the University. He said
that at present he had no vote on any of these; "But," he
said with a twinkle in his eye, "I will!"

He stressed the need to set some priorities, saying he would
sit with faculty to develop these. He asked for guidance in
this, wanting to know what the faculty's priorities are.

He said he wanted to stop the zero-sum game and come to a
point where we have a system in which the parts are
responsive to each other. That led to talk about the system
accreditation, now targeted at January of 2003.

Branding and marketing were his next topic. He said he
wanted all participants to feel "validated". In this
context he mentioned his own experiences, taking higher
degrees from the greatest of educational institutions but
also working in community colleges where some felt
stigmatized by that name. He mentioned one small unit,
Diablo Valley College, in the CCSF system over which he had
presided, where this one small unit generated at one point
54% of the PhiBetaKappas at UC Berkeley.

He mentioned the importance of our articulation
agreements. This led to presentation of his view on the
development of West O'ahu as a part of the system. He spoke
of a lack of understanding, and focused his following
remarks on population growth patterns. O'ahu growth is 4.8%
of state growth; there, 75% of that growth is west of Aloha
Stadium. He noted further that Hilo and Maui are
experiencing 25% growth. He repeated his view that the
development of West O'ahu would allow UHM to become the
Chapel Hill or the Austin or the Berkeley of the state
system.

Dormitory development was the next topic. He said that a
powerful R1 university needed a much bigger dormitory
complex. He noted that undergraduate instruction had been
significantly hurt by budget cuts. He noted the commuter
dimensions of the undergraduate body and suggested that the
changes he was proposing would lead to a reduction of
traffic on H1, would allow older, married, with-children,
working students their pursuit of transitional education,
leaving the role of transformational educational development
to Manoa. He said a goal would be to develop 5,000 to
10,000 new dormitory rooms in the corridor up from King and
University. He said that West O'ahu development "allows us
to become great."

He talked about Maui, Hilo and Kauai "to a degree" being
capable of becoming like small regional colleges, in some
cases offering the occasional master's degree. The
community colleges would be feeder institutions. He asked
the faculty if they were aware that at present it was
possible to attain a four-year degree from Manoa without
leaving Kaua'i..

Where would the money for all this come from? From
privatization, was one answer. He said we need to develop a
much better marketing program for the University as well.
He noted that Honolulu is now the eleventh-largest of
American cities, and he criticized the marketing approach
which at present has views panning the valley of Manoa and
Waikiki with Diamond Head, but nothing more. He felt that
contemporary students are attracted to city life, and the
new marketing approach ought to attend more to the
attractions of the city.

We must respect the reality of the growth patterns. We must
understand the needs of a transitional sort for students.

He said that in his first three months here he had gotten
more publicity that in his previous thirty years. He noted
the sophistication of this place and said that he was coming
to realize that local news is front page news.

Then he talked about information from the poll he has
recently commissioned. He reported that in this poll the
population of Hawai'i declared a 78% support for higher
education, 61% agreed that it was underfunded, 69%
island-wide. Do you believe that UH can be world class,
they were asked, and 74% said yes.

On the strike in the Spring, he cited a lack of
validation for the faculty, and insufficient pay. He said
he believed in open administration, claiming success in
previous positions while doing so. He criticized the
previous administration in this respect. He said his
administration was about faculty, not about appropriating
power from faculty, but to facilitate the work of faculty,
to raise resources, to build coalitions. His task here is a
great opportunity. His goal was to develop conversations
among the faculty in which we would take a fresh look at
what we wanted to be.

He said that he aimed to make use of his moral authority,
citing his proposal on tuition waivers for those put out of
work by the events of September 11. He said this could be
paid for with savings from reduction in non-instructional
costs. He re-iterated his commitment to funding of Hawaiian
studies.

At 2:35 he took a note from Interim Chancellor Neubauer,
correcting a fiscal figure: the University had received $57
million in the last few years.

President Dobelle said that stress was for him a calming
situation -- that he was a bad vacation companion. He said
that this position as President of the UH System was a
privilege for him and his last stop, that he intended to be
a resident of Hawai'i forever.

The first question from the audience concerned the
credibility of the promise to raise faculty salaries.

President Dobelle's reply focuses on new autonomy for the
university and on his intention to cut non-instructional
spending. He declared that in the past year both the
governor and the union had been mislead as to available
funds by the previous administration.

A second question focused on loss of jobs in the community
and on discussions about five or ten percent cuts.
President Dobelle replied with remarks about the hurricane
fund, rainy day funds, and said that there were funds
sufficient to sustain us. He acknowledged that lay-offs had
been significant, expressing the hope that they would not be
permanent. Again he said that he would cut only
non-instructional spending, keeping academic programs.
Everything, today, he said, was in reaction to the events of
September 11. If something else like that were to happen,
he had no idea what the impact would be. He felt that his
offer of tuition waivers was an example of support of our
fellow citizens which the university must be concerned to
do.

Thomas Hilgers asked about a sense of futility among faculty
at the matter of strategic planning. We have been asked
repeatedly to participate in planning, yet find our efforts
shelved and ignored. Why should we participate yet again?

Here President Dobelle told his story about his friend
Steven Trakenberg (sp??), now the president of George
Washington University. On the short list of candidates for
that presidency, he was asked by faculty there to tell them
why he should be selected over another candidate who was
very much more the academician and scholar than they
perceived him to be. Yes, replied ST, if it is a
distinguished academic you want for your president, you
really should select him. But -- he paused -- you would do
well to select me if what you want is a raise!
(considerable laughter followed)

Then the president declared his 72-hour rule: if you asked
him something he did not have the answer for, he would get
back to you within 72 hours. He wanted problems to be
addressed within that time frame. He talked about having
lunch with Interim Chancellor Neubauer and students
and receiving complaints about the condition of dormitory
bathrooms and about the lack of pool tables. That was dealt
with inside the 72 hour frame. Dobelle acknowledged he was
not good at long meetings. One has to make meetings work
for you, he said.

Mamo Kim asked about the search for a permanent chancellor.
He said he was asking the faculty to give him the criteria
for the search. He said he had never been failed by a
faculty which was empowered. He asked Interim Chancellor
Neubauer about the plans; DN replied that the goal was to
have this done by May.

President Dobelle returned to the pursuit of the resources
necessary to do what we know how to do. Michigan and Chapel
Hill came up again as models. He said that asking dead
people for money was a tough way to do it. He cautioned
that faculty need to have developed plans if they are to ask
for money and expect to receive it. Do you know what you
are doing? Do you know who you are serving? These are
questions faculty must expect to be asked, and they must
have the answers to them.

Joy Marsella asked about the quality of the undergraduate
program. This is a neglected matter, she said, in part
because there is no single person accountable. There is a
lack of coordination.

President Dobelle said, yes, this is a concern. He said he
agreed with the concept of a dean for undergraduate
instruction, personally. He linked this to, perhaps,
requirements in the criteria to be set for the new
chancellor. He talked about open admissions. Other
universities mentioned as possible models were Athens,
Amherst, Gainsville. He stated strongly his belief that the
best way to deal with problems in education was to fix the
public education system, from K-12 and indeed even to
address the needs of pre-K. 92% of UH students are from
Hawai'i. What can we do to be a help?

He said UH is an institution that deserves to be a first
choice for students entering college. He talked about a
chain of upward movement: Trinity to Williams (associating
his dad with that school) to Duke to Stanford to Yale to
Harvard to Oxford to Cambridge -- and then he noted that at
Cambridge they didn't talk about anybody else, so that must
be the place to be. He urged the faculty to "understand how
good you are". Here he mentioned "polycultural society" as
a part of our strength.

Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa said that he was right in saying that
we faculty are underpaid; can he help by, for example,
making it possible for faculty to send their children to
study here free of tuition payments? Dobelle answered that
this was a proposal that ought to come forward from the
faculty. He mentioned trying to make it work, addressing
matters such as the IRS and the possibility that this might
be a taxed benefit. He said that it ought to be a privilege
of support staff as well as for faculty, if it should come
to be. He mentioned that it would probably be a part of the
pay package.

He mentioned that he had another meeting to attend at 3:30;
this concerned with domestic partners and benefits for them.
He expressed his view that not to do so was "unconscionable"
in this day and age.

John Cox asked about improvements in the short term, before
any West O'ahu developments. Parking unfriendliness was one
example.

President Dobelle's reply focused on making things happen
financially. Autonomy has changed our circumstances and the
possiblities for us to act. He mentioned ramping up the
changes. Hawaii Hall was mentioned. He talked then about
private partnerships with the university. He mentioned
meeting with hotel owners in Japan and said that we might
take out leases on hotel rooms. He expressed his intention
to have tangible things to show the faculty "by November".

A final question concerned the possibilities for the future
especially regarding diversification of the local economy.
President Dobelle said that the first thing we should be
thinking about was how to be a bigger and better university.
He emphasized the multiplier effect that such development
would have. He talked about UH being a one-billion business
in the next few years. He talked about the Maui
Supercomputer as an opportunity. He mentioned his own
secret clearance, disparaging himself by saying that he
didn't know why he needed it, given that he wouldn't
understand anything well enough to transmit the information
to anyone.

He said he did not present things with any "spin" on them.
The Maui facility was what made him talk about Silicon
Island.

Returning to dorm rooms, he said that he thought about
students as "permanent tourists"

In conclusion he said that he intended for his
administration to be characterized as being imaginative and
being quick.